Lee Whitnum has been a computer engineer, novelist and a former lover of Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. It was in her latter role — the details of which she posted on her Web site during the last months of Kerry’s presidential campaign — that is Whitnum’s claim to fame.

Three years later, the Greenwich, Conn., resident decided to take on a different member of Congress and has filed to challenge GOP Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District in the 2008 election.

Whitnum became a hot topic in the dog days of August 2004 when she posted mementos of her relationship with the Democratic nominee on the Internet. Among Whitnum’s racier recollections of her rendezvous with Kerry, as recounted to the New York Daily News in August 2004: “All I can tell you is that John is 100 percent male.”

“John would whisper French phrases in my ear. I would say, ‘Speak to me in French!’ and so he’d do it. I don’t know what he was saying. I don’t speak French,” Whitnum said.

Their relationship took place in the early 1990s, after Kerry was divorced from his first wife, Julia Thorne, but before he began dating his current wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. A chapter based on Whitnum’s 20-month on again/off again romance with Kerry is included in her book “Hedge Fund Mistress,” which she wrote under the pen name of Lee Roystone. Whitnum also posted photos and other memorabilia from her romance with Kerry on the Web site for the book in late August 2004, but pulled it after it created a maelstrom on the Internet.

Whitnum told CQPolitics.com that she dated Kerry “a long time ago” when she was a graduate student at Harvard. “I learned a tremendous amount from him. I respect and admire him,” she said.

But she said she was taken aback by the uproar over her posted mementos, which she described as “very, very vanilla,” and which she said she posted up mainly to show her friends.

“I really, I had no idea. I had no idea the power of the Internet … I guess I had never thought about it before. … But basically it was just some harmless mementos … it was — whatever,” she said with a sigh.

In the race to challenge Shays, Whitnum joins Democrat Jim Himes, a Greenwich millionaire businessman with a well-funded campaign and early support from the national Democratic Party. Shays has represented the district since 1988 and faced down a challenge in 2006 from Diane Farrell, the former first selectwoman of Westport who had nearly unseated him in 2004. Farrell’s campaign focused largely on Shays’ early support of the war in Iraq, a position he subsequently changed.

The 4th District encompasses a largely affluent swath of New York City suburbs and exurbs, but also includes Bridgeport with its large population of urban poor. Both factors make it a classic swing district and top target for Democrats. Shays’ overall moderate record enables him to hold on to the seat, but Democrats, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), have rallied early behind Himes’ campaign.

That’s not likely to change. So far response to Whitnum’s candidacy has been discouraging, she says. She was frustrated by the lack of interest from Democratic organizations including the DCCC, calling Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s support of Himes “an old-boys network in action.”

But several of her policy stances put Whitnum in stark contrast to her party and even Shays. Whitnum opposes the H1B visa status program, which allows skilled workers to enter the country for temporary employment in jobs designated as a specialty occupation. Whitnum calls the program a racket and said it is siphoning middle-class jobs — such as computer engineering — from American workers.

She also ascribes to the theory of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan — whom she calls one of her heroes — that leaders with “divided loyalties” control Washington. Whitnum defines the term as “people who believe that the role of the United States and Israel is one and the same.”

“When the extremist factions, including people with divided loyalty, are making too many decisions, we have a problem. We have a problem here,” she said.

The state Democratic Party was not returning her calls and Whitnum said she was having trouble getting support from Emily’s List, a progressive organization that supports pro-abortion rights Democratic women.

“I’m very, very discouraged by that,” she said.

Whitnum, who currently is unemployed, said she worked for 13 years as a computer engineer for defense contractors and argues she represents mainstream America. “I’m not going to stop; I’m still going to fight.”